Tom Gray and the Ancestors Of Time
by FLAMELASHER
Summary: It's the year 2038, and demi-gods are enjoying the peace that's ruled the last 30 years. However, soon, that will all change, and the world will be endangered once more as a generation of deities lost to history rise once again to reclaim the world they once ruled - and enact vengeance upon it. Will they be stopped, or will Earth be plunged into a new dark age? Revamp of old story.
1. Capture the Flag

**A/N: Welcome, people, to Ancestor of Time! Or, more accurately, the revamped version of it. You can find the old version using my profile, but this version, is going to be far better. Also, if you read the old version, it'll spoil the suspense up until the point where the main changes set in. Anyway, in this version I'm going to improve the characters, improve the writing, improve every element of the story to be better and more realistic. So, please, read on!**

I, Tom Gray, son of Athena, crawled through the bushes behind the rock pile everyone calls Zeus Fist, careful to keep my celestial bronze sword, which was glowing dimly, low enough to avoid giving me away. I was in the middle of a game of Capture the Flag, and was sneaking up on the other team's flag. I reached the end of the bushes and checked where the flag's defenders were. I saw them wrapped in eachother's arms, snogging passionately.

'Guess this is going to be easier than I suspected.' I thought with a smirk, coming up to a crouch.

I crept forwards, and reached the two 'guards'. I swung my sword as I stood up fully, cutting into the arm of the nearest of the pair - a girl from the Aphrodite cabin. She yelped and went to run, but I kicked her hard in the back. She fell to the floor and curled up into a ball as her boyfriend, a pissed off son of Aeolus, the wind god. He swung his celestial bronze shortsword at me, and I blocked. Our blades clanged and locked together for a second before he blew me backwards with a blast of wind. I went flying back into the bushes I only recently left.

"Urgh!" I grunted as I landed heavily on my back.

He charged me, murder in his eyes, but before he even got halfway across the thirty feet gap between us orange energy crackled over him and he fell to the ground. I got to my feet, and saw my 'saviour'. Sophie, the incredibly beautiful daughter of Hecate, godess of magic.

"Aren't you going to thank me?" she asked angrily.

_'Almost forgot she's a bitch for a second.'_ I sighed internally.

"I heard that thought, you asshole." she snapped.

Hypocrites who can read minds are not my favourite kind of person, no matter how beatiful, so I just grunted and walked over to where my sword fell.

"Thank me, dammit!" Sophie spat, getting angrier by the second.

"Hmm... How about... No?" I replied.

She walked up to me and asked again, this time seductively. I resisted for a second, but she adjusted her shirt, tugging the bottom up higher above her waist, and I crumpled.

"Thank you." I said, knowing what she was doing but powerless anyway.

"About fucking time." she grumbled, back to her usually bitchy self.

She slapped me on the face. Hard.

"Ouch." I complained, glaring daggers at her.

"Now you're done wasting time, let's continue with Capture the Flag." she said.

I struggled to stop myself from thinking something along the lines of_ 'I was wasting time? It was YOU wasting time!'_. Thankfully, I suceeded, and my left cheek remained unslapped.

"Help me!" the Aphrodite child I kicked to the ground earlier shouted, having calmed down enough to call for help.

I doubt it was help being knocked out she wanted, but that's what Sophie gave her, using one of her orange energy blasts.

_'Ouch.'_ I thought, seeing the girl collapse on the ground.

"It's painless." she commented, then she reached towards the flag.

I saw someone appear in the shadows behind her, and spent a split second considering whether to shout out a warning.

"Look out!" I shouted as the person behind her raised his dark grey sword.

Sophie kicked backwards, and I saw who it was trying to attack her from behind - Henri, son of Hades. I guess that explains how he popped up so suddenly. He vanished into a shadow, leaving two skeletons behind, who charged Sophie. She blasted one, but it kept on going. Henri appeared again inches from me and launched into a flurry of quick blows, striking first to the right, then the left, then up high, then down low, making me struggle to keep up. His sword was made of Stygian Iron, which is lighter than Celestial Bronze, and was shorter than mine, so he had to work less to reach so many different places with his blade. I snapped out of my thoughts, which were constantly hijacking my mind, and sent a knee into Henri's chest. He grunted and stumbled back.

_'Victory is mine.'_ I thought, batting his sword out of his hand.

But then he vanished into the shadows, and reappared behind Sophie, who was struggling against the Skeletons, who were immune to most of her spells. I grabbed a throwing knife from my belt and hurled it at him. It caught him in the upper torso, and he fell to the ground in pain. I moved in behind the Skeletons and took them down with one blow each.

"Aren't you going to thank me?" I asked, doing a bad imitation of Sophie's voice.

She slapped me again, then grabbed the flag and went to run off.

"Hang on, we need to check Henri's okay, I hit him really near his lungs, and-" I started, not wanting to end up killing or crippling a fellow half-blood.

"He's an enemy, leave him." Sophie interuppted, sneering at me.

"It's Capture the Flag, not a real battle." I said.

"All right then, I'll send up a fucking signal." she grumbled, pointing her palms upwards.

A flashing orange light appeared in the sky. Flashing orange lights were the 'help' signal. Almost instantly, an arrow sliced straight through the air next to my head, and I crouched down behind one of the boulders making up Zeus' fist.

"Good idea, smartass!" Sophie shouted at me as arrows rained down on us.

An arrow hit the flag and it flew out of her hand. I caught it and sprinted off into the forest, leaping over thick, gnarled tree roots, smashing through weak branches in my way and dodging ones I couldn't break. I could hear Sophie running along behind me. I ran for a few minutes before seeing a fight up ahead. Two Ares kids were closing in on my half-sister Jenassa, wielding swords that glinted in the moonlight. One of them had my team's flag.

"Go help your sister, I'll take the flag." she said.

"Half-sister. And I don't trust you with the flag." I replied, knowing that she had betrayed her team before.

She smiled at me seductively.

_'Damn it!'_ I cursed at myself as I tossed her the flag and ran over to help Jen.

I snapped off a branch from a tree and swung it at the first Ares kid. He laughed, and I could tell he thought I was no threat. Then I stabbed him several times in the side with one of my throwing knives, and he groaned and fell to the ground. His half-brother lunged at me, and I leapt backwards. I threw the stick into the air after a second of timing and drew my sword. His sword blurred as he struck at me with lots of power, and I barely managed to block the blows. I frowned as I began to lose, then smiled as the stick hit my much tougher, taller opponent on the head and dazed him. Jen knocked him out with a heavy blow to the back of the head with the butt of her sword. As soon as the unconscious Ares kid hit the floor, she started talking.

"You trusted Sophie with the flag?" she asked me, angry and surprised.

"Hard not to." I murmurred, embarrased.

"Tom, you've got to resist her charms!" Jen snapped.

"She's no threat, she's on our side." I said.

"I mean all girls who can do that to you. It could be-" Jen continued.

"My fatal flaw?" I guessed.

"Yes, exactly!" she said, then she winced.

I noticed she was bleeding from her side.

"You're hurt." I said, concerned for my half-sister.

"I don't have any Ambrosia." she said.

"I do." I said, getting out my block of Ambrosia.

Ambrosia is the food of the gods. Demi-gods are healed by it, but if they take too much they burn, so it's risky to use large amounts of it. She took it and ate it, and her wound sealed up.

"Thank you." she said, looking into my grey eyes.

Our eyes were one of the few things we had in common. Almost all of Athena's children had grey eyes, and the majority, including me and Jen, had black hair. However, most of Athena's children got their facial structure from their dad, as well as skin tone. That was one of the main differences between me and Jen - whilst I was pale with a thin face, she was tanned and had a more circular face.

"C'mon, let's get going." I said, readying a throwing knife.

Jen and I sprinted into the forest in the direction Sophie had headed in, quickly catching up. Sophie was being chased by a Hermes cabin member who I don't think had been claimed. I threw a knife but missed and hit a nearby tree. Jen's attack was more accurate however, as she scored a direct hit on her target's leg with her longbow. He stumbled and almost fell. Jen 'missed' her next shot and hit Sophie in the arm just as she leapt over the boundary into our side's land.

"Nice one." I smirked.

"It was an accident." Jen replied loudly, before winking at me.

_'Owned, Sophie!'_ I thought, deliberately making sure Sophie would pick it up.

She fired a blast of energy at me and Jen, and we both dodged. She kept sending them at us, and we were pinned down until my half-brother and good friend Mark knocked her to the ground from behind. She blasted him and he fell backwards, unconscious. I closed the distance between us as she got up and turned round, then stopped as she gave me one of her seductive, magically enhanced smiles. Jen, however, didn't. Sophie cried out in pain as her nose met Jen's fist. Before the fighting could escalate any more, however, Chiron, the camp's Centuar 'leader', broke it up. After a few minutes we returned to the Athena cabin. It was pretty cool inside, with plenty of bunkbeds with desks for reading, planning, whatever below the bed parts. Mine had a lamp, laptop, pad of paper and collection of pencils and pens on it. I mostly used it for drawing pictures of monsters I had slain or campers I had defeated, but I did use it for other things too. I climbed the ladder into my bed, laid down, and was instantly asleep.

**A/N: So, how was this new start? Reviews please, as they help make this story better.**


	2. Average Morning

**A/N: Thank you , for your very kind review. Here's the next chapter.**

"Wake up!" was the first thing I heard the next morning.

"Uh, what?" I mumbled, stil half-asleep.

"Wake up!" the person shouted again, sounding angrier than before.

"Kay, jus' a minute." I murmurred.

Suddenly someone was grabbing me, and my warm, cozy bed was gone, then I was lying in the floor and my entire back fucking hurt.

"Ok, I'll get the fuck up!" I snapped angrily, sitting up.

"Good." Grace, head councellor of the Athena cabin, said before walking off.

I walked into the male changing area at the side of the cabin, and opened my locker. I took out my orange Camp Half-Blood t-shirt, jeans, socks and boxers, and got dressed into them quickly. I took my trainers out, put them on, and headed outside. The area outside was a nice place. The cabins were arranged into a square, with a fountain in the middle. A few other demi-gods were also just waking up. Actually, almost all of them were just waking up.

_'Curse you, Grace.'_ I thought, angry that I was woken up so early pointlessly.

I walked to the dining pavilion to the north of the cabins, got my meal (bacon, sausage, fried eggs and baked beans), walked over to the blazing bonfire in the middle of the pavilion, scraped in a paticularly nice looking piece of bacon, and went to sit down with my half-siblings at the Athena table.

"About time you got here." Grace said.

Me and Grace didn't get along that well, mostly because I disagree with her excessively commanding way of leading the cabin.

"I took two minutes!" I complained, cutting into a sausage.

"Two minutes too long." Grace said.

"Grace, you can't expect him to be any faster than he-" Mark, my half-brother, said.

"Yes, I can, Mark." Grace growled, and Mark backed down.

Mark's a good friend and half-brother, and a damn good shot with a rifle, but he is intimidated or scared a little too easily.

I frowned at Grace as I ate the slice of sausage I had just cut.

"Mark is right, though, Grace." Lavender, one of the only twins in Camp Half Blood.

"Yeah, he is." Rose, the other twin, added.

"Ok, ok, you win." Grace sighed, "Sorry, Tom."

After that we finished our meal in relative silence, and headed to the armoury. We had a battle with the Apollo cabin next, and needed to arm and armour up. Our armoury is a big, metal shed full of weapons. The first time I had seen it, I said that I didn't want to wage war on plants, which had earnt an amused grin from Grace. I put on a bronze chestplate and helmet styled after ancient greek armour, then took a sheath and clipped it onto a combat belt. I filled the rest of the combat belt with throwing knives, and selected a well balanced sword.

"Any special requirments for the plan?" I asked Grace, then, before I could stop myself, added, "You majesty?"

Grace glared at me and said that there wasn't any. I cursed my mouth and it's runaway habits, and followed my now angry cabin councellor to the arena. Grace explained the plan. Me, Rose, Lavender and Craig, another of my half-siblings, would launch a head-on attack while Grace, Mark and Jen crept around the side and shot the Apollo cabin with two bows and a rifle. It wasn't a great plan, but in an open, sand arena, what could you do? We walked out into the arena and got ready to fight. I examined the Apollo cabin. There was eight of them, and five were wielding bows, the other three having shortswords. Chiron shouted for the battle to start and I charged, throwing a few daggers as I closed the gap with the three Apollo cabin swordsmen.

"Raargh!" I yelled as I swung at a tall, thin son of Apollo.

He blocked my blow and quickly retaliated with a quick stab towards my chest. I blocked and leapt backwards just in time to avoid an arrow. However, a second arrow sailed towards me and hit my chestplate. I stumbled backwards, and ducked yet another shot. My opponent lunged at me and I blocked, knocking his blade to the side. Craig joined me in fighting him, and we quickly gained the upper hand. Before we could take him down, however, one of the archers slung her bow and charged us with a dagger. I engaged her in combat as Craig continued fighting her half-brother.

"Ready to lose?" I 'asked', then got hit in the knee by an arrow, "Shit!"

She laughed, leaping me and swinging her knife.

I leant backwards to avoid the swing, then slammed my shoulder into her, knocking her backwards. She winced in pain, then ducked under a swing of my blade and sliced at my knee. I couldn't dodge in time and I grunted as it slid straight through my flesh. I slammed my other knee into her face, breaking her nose, and she kicked me where it hurts. _'Fucking whore.'_ I staggered back and she sliced at me, but I blocked. Realizing I was outmatched, I tackled her and drew one of my throwing knives. Before I could stab her, however, she flipped use over, sending my knife skidding away. I realized the position we were in, our lips almost touching, and blushed.

BANG!

Mark's rifle went off louder than it should do (probably because it had oil in it - that tended to much shots up and make them too loud), making the Apollo girl jump slightly. I threw her off of me and quickly drew my sword as I stood up. A ray of sunshine hit my hand, making me drop my blade and say something very insulting. The Apollo girl just laughed and held her knife to my throat, drawing a small amount of blood. However, I had the point of one of my throwing knives digging into her chest, so she pulled away and rolled backwards several time. I quickly wiped the blood from my neck and grabbed my sword, when her knife flew towards me. I barely managed to bat it aside, but was kicked in the chest and knocked to the ground. I groaned at the pain and cursed as the the girl - Amber, I think it was - put the point of my sword to my head, a victorious expression on her face.

"You win, Amber." I said, defeated, then smiled, "But I think you might want to surrender."

She looked around and saw Mark aiming his rifle and Jen her bow at her. She sighed.

"I surrender." she said, handing me my sword and putting her hands up.

I laughed at the dissapointment etched all over her face as I stood up.

"I still beat you, so don't laugh!" she complained.

I laughed a bit more, and she glared and grumbled at me.

"Well, ain't you a little ray of sunshine." I joked.

Mark and Jen laughed at my joke and Amber looked a little less grumpy. Grace, who had just walked over, didn't get it. After that, we left the arena and headed back to the armoury. We put away all of our armour and weapons, except for me keeping my Sword and Mark a pistol. Who knows, I might need it in an emergency. I pulled the arrow out of my knee and winced in pain, then ate a small square of ambrosia.

"What's next?" Mark asked Grace as he put his rifle in it's locker.

"Climbing." Grace answered simply.

I grinned, climbing being a hobby of mine, but Mark groaned. Unlike me, he had never gotten the hang of it. Whichj could prove quite painful on a shaking rock wall with falling boulders and lava flows. No one had ever died on it, but in Mark's mind, it's bound to happen sometime. After all, the probability of an event happening will eventually reach 1. Unless a god interferes. That's one of the irritating things about being a child of Athena - you're always learning things, but most scientists are mortal and don't take the godly world into consideration, making knowing if they're correct really difficult. The other annoying thing is being dyslexic - I'm a child of the wisdom godess, yet can't read without the words dancing around my head, almost as though they're taunting me.

"You coming, Tom, or are you busy daydreaming?" Grace asked.

"Sorry, ADHD hijacked my brain." I said.

"Hate it when that happens." Jen added, as she, like almost all demi-gods, was also ADHD.

"I know, right, it's so frustrating!" I said, beggining to rant.

"It doesn't bother me that much." Grace said, "So I don't see how it affects you so badly."

"He's got a more severe case of it, obviously." Mark said.

"Whereas your briefcase is quite laid-back." I said to Grace, who groaned along with everyone else.

"Sorry, that was a really bad joke." I said.

"Yeah, it was. What happened to your good jokes?" Rose asked.

"I liked that one about the magic tractor." Lavender said, "It was really clever."

"Yeah, it was clever, but not funny." Mark said.

"I'm running out of jokes." I laughed as we walked over to the climbing wall.

"The great Tom Grey? Out of jokes?" Mark laughed.

"Not quite yet, Mark. Not quite." I replied.

"Tell us a joke, then." Rose said.

"Oh gods, please no." Grace said, not being a fan of my jokes.

"Please, Tom?" Lavender begged.

"Knock knock." I said.

"Who's there?" the twins asked simultaneously.

"Boo." I replied.

"Boo who?" they asked.

"Don't cry, it's only a joke." I answered.

Grace and Mark groaned, and Craig, who almost never showed emotion, frowned. But, it made Rose and Lavender laugh, so it was worth it. Kind of. When we reached the climbing wall, Grace pressed the button to start it up, and we got climbing. I sprinted at the wall and jumped, barely managing to start gripping slight depressions three meters up. I found somewhere to put my feet and started climbing, reaching from depression to depression, outcrop to outcrop, ledge to ledge. I was almost halfway up when it got really fun. A boulder came tumbling down from the top, forcing me to dodge by quickly swinging to another handhold. I started climbing again, and flows of lava opened up, one narrowly missing me. My planned route was blocked by lava, so I improvised and climbed around a different way, timing the shakes of the wall to make sure I didn't lose my grip. Another boulder fell, but it was nowhere near me, so I continued, ignoring it completely. I stayed still for a second as the wall shook, then rushed up the last bit and sat on top of the wall. After a while, I got bored and started leaping from this wall to the one opposite, which was a good ten meters away. Once, I almost fell when the wall shook right as I caught the wall I was jumping to, but I was fine. After about five minutes, the walls started shaking non-stop, meaning they were about to slam together. Everyone was at the top except Mark. I reached down and grabbed his hand, then pulled him up just in time.

"Thanks." he said.

"No problem." I replied, "Reckon you can get down ok?"

Mark always had trouble going down the wall after he had climbed it.

"I'll manage." he said.

The two walls pulled apart, and I quickly slid down the entire wall, then waited patiently at the bottom as the others slowly made their ways down. Everyone made it down fine, and we went down to the lake for my least favourite activity - canoeing. Poseidon hated Athena, and took it out on her children by making the sea, rivers and lakes a horrible place for them. I sighed and followed the others.

**A/N: Thank you for reading, and please leave a review.**


	3. Break with Amber

**A/N: This one's a short chapter, sorry about that.**

After a long, painful experience bumping up and down on the uneven surface on the lake, I finally got a little while to relax before lunch. I thought about what to do for a while, then decided to do some drawing. I headed to the Athena Cabin and grabbed one of the sheets of paper on the desk under my bed. I started to draw the Minotaur wielding a huge hammer one-handed, and got the outline done before losing interest. I put away the paper and pencil, and headed out into the woods, unsure of what to do. I wandered for about ten minutes before sitting down on a rock and staring into space. I started daydreaming. I did that alot. Daydreaming, not sitting down on rocks. Usually I use chairs or seats. I was so absorbed in my daydream that I didn't notice someone walking up behind me until they were only a few steps away. I turned around to see who it was.

"Hello Amber." I said.

"Hi Tom." she replied.

"Apollo Cabin got break at the moment?" I asked, although I was already 99% sure of the answer.

"Yeah." she replied, "I'm guessing Athena Cabin also have break?"

"No, I ran away to live with the forest creatures." I said sarcastically.

"Really? You look more like a city guy to me." she replied.

"I was being sarcastic." I said dryly.

"What's sarcastic?" she asked, sounding serious.

_'Pretty but dumb.'_ I thought as I looked at the tanned, blonde haired girl in front of me.

"Lying, in joke form." I said.

"So kind of like irony?" she asked.

"Hmm... More like irony's a form of sarcasm." I replied.

"And another form is tearing flesh?" she asked jokingly, realizing the simmilarities to the Greek parent word σαρκασμός which meant tearing flesh and speaking bitterly.

"No, that's just a simmilarity." I laughed.

_'Maybe she's not so dumb...'_ I thought.

"Want a rematch from earlier?" she asked, "You were wounded then."

"Sure, why not?" I said, reaching for my sword.

Before I could reach it, I was forced to dodge backwards as she swung her knife at me. Damn it! I drew my sword and blocked her next blow, then swung my sword towards her right side. She ducked under it, so I quickly turned the direction of the slice. She slid to the side and my blade cut into the ground. I dodged backwards as she lunged at me, and raised my sword above my head, then leapt forwards and swung it downwards. She moved to dodge and I quickly kicked her in the chest, dazing her. Unfortunately, she stumbled back just enough for the blade to miss her. She quickly recovered and attacked me, jabbing quickly and dancing around me. I span constantly to keep up with her, clangs of metal ringing though the air as we battled. She rolled backwards, breaking off the exchange of blows, and I frowned. I had just been gaining the upper hand. Suddenly, a beam of sunlight slammed into my chest and I groaned in pain as it knocked me to my knees. I quickly turned and ran into a deeper part of the forest, looking for an owl.

"Coward!" Amber shouted, sprinting after me.

I stopped suddenly, having found an owl, and Amber slammed into my back. I span round as the owl, following my orders, swooped in and snatched Amber's dagger. I pressed my sword lightly to the daughter of Apollo's neck, thanking the owl for its help.

"Well, I guess you just owned me..." Amber said, smiling.

_'Damn she's pretty.'_ I thought.

I blushed at my thought, but thankfully Amber didn't seem to notice. I lended her a hand in getting up.

"Thanks." she said.

"No problem." I replied.

There was a few seconds of silence.

"You know the time?" I asked.

"No, but if we can find a clearing I can tell by the suns position." she replied.

_'Definitely not dumb.'_ I thought.

"Let's start looking then." I said.

After a few minutes we found a clearing.

"Looks like it's about... 12:15 PM?" she said, looking up at her dads chariot.

"So we've got fifteen minutes until lunch." I said.

"Yep." she replied.

"What should we do?" I asked.

"Actually, I was thinking of being alone for a while. Sorry." she replied.

"That's fine." I replied before we said goodbye and parted ways.

Yet I still felt dissapointed.

**A/N: Thanks for reading, please leave a review.**


	4. NonAverage Morning

**A/N: Here's the next chapter. Enjoy!**

The next day, I didn't even get a warning before being hurled onto the floor.

"Owww! What the Hades, Grace?" I moaned, getting up from the floor.

"What did you do to piss of the Hephaestus Cabin?" Grace asked, looking pissed off.

"What?" I asked, confused.

"Well, there's a celestial bronze collum covering the exit." Grace explained.

_'Bullshit.'_ I thought, but I played along anyway.

"Oh, right, that must be the olives I put in Will's socks." I replied sarcastically.

"What! Why?" Grace snapped.

"He stole my chaingun that fires ponies." I said, making it painfully obvious I was being sarcastic, as Grace didn't get it the first time.

She gave me the 'I'm going to kill you slowly and painfully look', but I was used to it and didn't react.

"Wait, you're serious?" I asked after a few minutes.

"Of course I fucking am!" she shouted.

"I didn't do nothing." I said.

"If you didn't do nothing then you did do something!" Grace snapped.

"Not literally." I added to my previous sentence.

"I don't believe you." Grace said.

That's when Craig woke up.

"What are you two fighting over now?" he sighed.

Grace didn't reply, just opened the door as far as she could before it hit the celestial bronze column outside. Craig sighed and went out into the armoury from the side door inside the cabin. He came out with a breaching charge, and placed it on the column. He waved us back, then detonated the charge, blowing a man-sized hole straight through the column. A piece of shrapnel almost hit me, but I sidestepped and it bounced off of the far wall.

"What the Hades just happened?" and variations were all said as Mark, Rose and Lavender all woke up instantly at the sound of the explosion.

Me and Grace explained the situation as Craig went to get dressed. While Grace was talking, I slipped away and got dressed into my usual Camp Half-Blood shirt, jeans and trainers. Craig left almost as soon as I got there, and I went into the armoury to get a sword. I headed back out into the cabin proper, wher Grace and Craig were waiting for everyone else. I joined them, and Grace told me to collect the shrapnel from inside the cabin. I grumbled as I walked around collecting the still warm shards of celestial bronze scattered throughout the cabin's interior. When everyone was dressed we went to breakfast.

"Who's that over there?" asked Mark, pointing.

I looked and saw one of the Satyrs guiding a little girl who couldn't be more than 8 towards the Big House. I could tell from a distance that the Satyr had been in combat recently, and that the little girl was crying.

"She's so young." Rose said sadly.

"Poor little girl." Lavender added.

"Wonder who her godly parent is?" Mark said.

"We'll find out later. Right now, we've got archery." Grace said, turning away from the new camper and walking off towards the archery range.

We didn't take long to arrive at the archery range. It was a simple fenced off zone with targets controlled by the press of a button, the closest they could pop up being 25 meters, the furthest 250 meters. There was a small, rectangular building designed like an old Greek house in terms of asthetics at the end, holding the bows, arrows and firing line. We filed in, selected our bows, took ten arrows each, and got ready to fire once Grace gave us the order.

"Ten shots rapid at the target to your front." Grace said as a man sized target popped up in each 'lane' about 100 meters away.

I analyzed the instructions quickly.

Ten shots - I need to fire all ten of my arrows.  
Rapid - I need to fire them as fast as I can while still being accurate.  
Target to your front - I needed to fire at the target directly in front of me.

"Go!" she shouted, then started firing.

I quickly knocked an arrow and aimed above the target, compensating for distance. I fired and reached for another arrow. My previous shot went over the target, and I aimed lower and fired again. I saw the arrow soar over the targets shoulder and aimed down and to the left for my next shot. I smiled as the arrow stuck into the target and shook slightly. I continued firing, hitting with my next three, missing once, then hitting near the spot between the eyes you get loads of points for with my last three arrows. I counted up my points, putting me third in the cabin behind Grace and Jenassa, only 5 points ahead of Mark. That was a tiny difference considering we both got over 5000 points. I considered myself an ok archer. Sure, it took me a shot or two to adjust to range, but after that I could do pretty well.

"Not bad, Mark, but you're not as good as me." I laughed, turning to my half-brother and friend.

"You were five points ahead, Tom. FIVE." Mark replied.

"Oh, I see, you're jealous. That's five." I laughed.

"That was a terrible pun." Mark said dryly.

"Yeah, it wasn't that punny." I replied, unable to help myself.

"Bad joke times over. Everyone go and get your arrows." Grace said.

I walked to the far right of the building where the gate into the shooting area was, and headed around behind the targets. Then, I walked up to mine and went around to the front. I know, it was a slow route, but it was the one we had to take for safety reasons, so I had no choice but to use it. I put my thumb and index finger on either side of one of my arrows and pulled it out, then repeated the process for the other seven. Finally, I fetched the three arrows that landed behind the target.

We returned to the firing line on the other side of the fence, and fired again, this time focusing more on accuracy than speed. The results were in the same order, except this time me and Mark were tied. We kept firing arrows for an entire hour, with me and Mark competing for third place. I tended to do better during rapid firing, whereas Mark won most of the times we had to shoot targets that randomly popped up. In accurate firing, we drew most of the time. At the end, Mark was leading 7-6, so I grudingly admitted defeated.

_'You win** this** time, Mark.'_ I thought,_ 'But next time we do archery, I'll win.'_

I decided to ask Jen for some advice on archery next time we were both free, so I could make Mark pay for daring to challenge me! I calmed down, reminding myself that it's just archery practice, and that winning really isn't that important. As I was thinking, Chiron came over and told us that the little girl we saw earlier was also a child of Athena, and that we had to go and introduce her to us and give her a tour of camp after lunch. Looks like I had yet another half-sister.

The other activity before lunch was Greek, more specifically translating words from Greek to English and vice versa. I did quite well, getting 19 out of 20, as compared to the camp average of 13. My one mistake was confusing 'Boot' and 'Bolt'. I cursed myself for the simple mistake - I really wanted to get 100% correct - that way Grace couldn't claim to be smarter than me, which infuriated me even though it really shouldn't matter that much.

We had lunch - bacon sandwiches and tomatoes. The Athena Cabin also got some olives, because the Olive Tree was sacred to our mum. It felt weird calling Athena my mum, mostly because she's a godess.

"So that poor little girl's in our cabin." Rose said as we ate.

"Yeah, duh." Grace grumbled through a mouthful of olives.

"No need to be so mean about it, Grace." Jen said, "She's just making conversation."

"You really hate confrontation, don't you. Guess that expalins why you favour a bow." Grace snapped.

_'Gods, she's in a bad mood. Must be her time of the month.'_ I thought.

"You're really pissy today Grace. It your time of the month?" I asked before I could stop myself.

Grace hurled her chair over the table, hitting me and sending me falling backwards onto the ground. I saw Grace stand up with her knife in her hand, but everyone else sprang up too.

"Let's not get into a fight." Mark said.

Grace glared at Mark and he backed away.

"Everyone calm down." Craig said, taking charge.

Craig didn't talk much, so when he did, we listened.

"Tom, go and give our new half-sibling a tour. Grace, calm the fuck down." he said before returning to his meal.

I obeyed, not wanting to get into an actual physical fight with Grace. Curse my loose tounge.

**A/N: So, yeah. Mysteries, new camper, Tom's lack of control over what he says starting fights, and more. If you enjoyed, leave a review. If you didn't, leave a review anyway!**


	5. First Blood

**A/N: Welcome back, my readers. I would like to give a thank you to Red Fez for making this story one of his Favourites, and hope he and everyone else reading enjoys this chapter.**

I was still angry after the 'fight' with Grace, so I waited near the cabins for a minute or two before going to meet my young half-sister. Once I was calm, I walked up to the Athena Cabin, pulled the door open, and walked in. The little girl was sitting in the middle of the corridor, waiting patiently for someone to come in. She was short, but that was a given for her age. She had curly blonde hair and grey eyes, and was quite pale. She was wearing battered old jeans and a Camp Half Blood t-shirt that was too big for her. Guess we don't have any in her size.

"Hello." she said.

"Hello. I'm Tom, and I'm one of your half-brothers." I replied.

"You look like a full person to me." she said.

"No, that's not what half-brother means. It means we share one parent, our mum, not both." I replied with a smile.

"Ok." she replied, "I'm Stephanie, but you can call me Steph."

"How old are you, Steph?" I asked, crouching down to look her in the eyes.

"Seven." she said.

'Gods, Seven? She shouldn't be subjected to this at seven!' I thought.

"So, what do you know about camp?" I asked, not sure what she'd already been told.

"The Greek gods are real and they have children with humans and monsters try to kill the children and the humans like... like my daddy..." she stopped speaking and her eyes teared up.

"It's ok, Steph, you'll seed your daddy again one day." I said.

"Really?" she said, blinking hard to get rid of the tears.

"Really." I replied.

"Ok..." she said, sounding unsure.

"Do you want a tour of the camp?" I asked, trying to take her mind off of her dads death.

"Yes please." she said, nodding.

"Follow me then." I replied, getting up and heading out.

"These are the cabins, where people live." I said, gesturing around me, "They are split by godly parent."

"How many is there?" she asked.

"There used to be 12, but now there is 22." I explained.

"But my daddy always told be in stories that there was only 12 gods." she said, confused.

"No, there's 12 Olympian gods, who are the famous ones." I said.

"Is mummy an Olympican?" she asked.

"Our mum is Athena, so yes." I replied.

"What god is she?" Steph asked.

"The godess of wisdom." I answered.

"What is wisdom?" she enquired.

"Cleverness." I said.

"What if two half gods have a child?" she asked.

"That's never happened before, but if it did they'd probably go in the Hermes cabin." I answered.

_'You're a curious one, aren't you?'_ I thought.

After walking all the way through camp except for the lake and archery range, I was on the verge of tearing my hair out from having to answer so many questions. But, hey, at least this way if my hair got torn out it'd be by me, not Grace.

"What the Hades?" I heard someone yell in the distance.

"Help!" a girl from the same direction shrieked.

"Stay here." I said to Steph, drawing my sword and bolting off in the direction of the where the voices were coming from.

When I got there, a tall, bulky... thing was rampaging around near the lake, hurling away the unarmed campers nearby. I continued sprinting towards the monster. It's skin was pale and mottled, and looked like it had been dragged through Tartarus several times. It's eyes were fiery orbs, and it's hands huge, rocky hammers. I wished I had my throwing knives on me. Or a bow. Or pistol. Or rifle. Or any other ranged weapon. But I didn't, so I leapt forwards and sliced a cut into it's arm when I was close enough. It swung it's other arm, hitting me in the chest and hurling me back several meters.

"FUCK!" I shouted, but it came out as a gasp.

I sat up, my vision swimming, and caught my breath before getting back to my feet and calling an owl to help me. It soared down from the sky, eyes glinting in the sunlight. With a thought I asked it to claw out the things eyes, and it swooped in. Orange eye juice splattered all over it's face, and I took the chance to run in and stab my sword deep into it's chest after jumping up to reach it. It roared and puffed out it's chest, knocking me off and shooting my sword out. Henri appeared from the shadows behind it and climbed up it's back. I clambered to my feet and sprinted up to my sword, a son of Ares right next to me, wielding a shotgun. I grabbed my sword and slipped away as the Ares Camper fired a shot into the monster as Henri struggled up it's back. It roared and slammed down on the shotgunner, then hurled him into the air and batted him back into the ground, sending blood spraying all over it's legs.

"NO!" a daughter of Ares shouted, rushing the beast with a greatsword.

Before she could reach it, Henri slit the monster's throat and it spasmed wildly before falling down - right on top of the wounded camper.

"Jorge!" the daughter of Ares yelled, running towards the monster, which was turning into gold dust that floated away.

I grabbed a few handfuls of the dust and shoved them into my zip pocket on my jeans. Who knows, it might be useful? I saw a few others who arrived right as the fight ended copy me, but the epic of the action was gone, claimed by me. I turned my attention to the son of Ares. His body was bent in unnatural ways, and bones were jutting out of his body, shattered and bloody. His body and the ground around it were crimson red. His half-sister reached him and grabbed him, shaking his shoulders and begging him to wake up. A lump formed it my throat, but I managed to speak through it.

"He's gone." I said, surprised at how emotionless I sounded.

"No! He can't be! Please no!" she cried.

"I'm sorry." I said.

She ignored me and called for a medic. Glen, the tall, tanned leader of the Apollo Cabin rushed over, crouched down by the dead camper, and worked quickly, carrying out several checks for signs of life. But he just shook his head.

"No. You're lying!" the Ares girl - Jule, I think it was - yelled.

"I felt him die." Henri said.

"No! No!" Jule cried, burying her head in her hands.

_'Since when were Ares kids so emotional?'_ I thought, but quickly scolded myself for being so heartless.

"What happened here?" Chiron asked, riding up to the scene.

He saw what had happened.

"Oh." he said.

* * *

After a while, the funeral and burning of the shroud had been arranged, and Jule consoled as well as possible given what had just happened. After that, a quest was started.

"What was the thing that killed him?" Chiron asked.

"I'm not sure... Nothing we've ever seen before." I reported.

"Then we need to find out. Is there a way of tracking it?" Chiron asked.

"This gold dust floated off towards Miami. We could follow it?" I suggested.

"Did anyone get any of this gold dust?" Chiron asked.

"I did." I replied.

"Then you shall lead the quest." Chiron declared, "You know where the Oracle lives?"

"I do. I'll... go get a prophecy..." I said, shocked.

I had been given a quest, a quest that seemed very important. I couldn't believe it. I know it's because I had collected some of the gold dust and answered Chiron's questions, but still... I forced myself to concentrate, and headed the the Oracle's cave.

**A/N: Dunh dunh dunh! Hope you enjoyed, please leave a review.**


	6. Preperations

**A/N: I'm back. Not sure if you noticed.**

I made my way through camp towards the Oracle's Cave, my mind still reeling from me being given a quest. Not just any quest, but one that seemed quite important, moreso than the average 'Ares lost his spear' or 'Hephaestus' new automaton went mad' style quest.I shook those thoughts out of my head as I came up to the Oracle's cave. It was pretty much what I imagined; gaping cave mouth covered by thin strips of grass with torches belching out purple smoke on either side, adding to the aura of mystery surronding the Oracle. Back in the 'old' days, as in, just over 30 years ago, the Oracle had been a dried up mummy, but a sixteen (now forty six) year old mortal girl had become the new host. I stood around outside the cave awkwardly, not sure what to do. Do I knock on the stone with my sword? Is there a hidden doorbell? Do I just walk in? Thankfully, I was saved from having to decide when a voice came from inside.

"Is someone out there?" asked a woman's voice.

"Uh... yeah." I replied.

"Here for a prophecy?" the woman - almost certainly the Oracle - asked.

"You guessed it." I answered.

"Come in." the Oracle said.

I did so, walking forwards and brushing through the dangling grass (which reminded me of the strips my nan used to have over her back door), and heading in. I had to work hard to stop my jaw from dropping. This was no typical cave, no sir. It was packed withluxury furniture, a music system, smartphone dock, huge 3DTV, and with tunnels leading off in several directions.

"So, how does this work?" I asked after a second of silence, turning to look at the Oracle.

She was pretty average, really. Average height and build, with ginger hair and emerald green eyes. She looked worn out and tired, but in her eyes I could see a gleam that reminded me of the more creative people I knew.

"Just ask me a question and the Oracle will speak through me." the Oracle replied.

"Ok, umm... what is my destiny?" I asked, but nothing happened.

I looked at the Oracle, silently asking for help.

"Try another question." she suggested.

"What is my quest?" I inquired.

Purple smoke gushed out of the Oracle's mouth, and her eyes rolled back. She spoke in an old, almost ancient voice, giving out a very cryptic prophecy. After the prophecy was done, she slumped back on her sofa and blinked a few times.

"Get what you need?" she asked, her voice back to normal.

"Yeah, thanks." I replied.

I left the cave, walked a short distance to a calm spot in the forest, and sat down to think. According to the prophecy, five people would go on the quest, two more than usual. That added to my theory that this would be an important quest, increasing my nervousness and pride at being given command of the quest. I forced myself to concentrate and started trying to decide who to take.

My unclaimed friend Sam was a no-brainer. I don't mean he had no brain (he was blonde, but that sterotype is far from true), I mean taking him was an obvious choice. Him going on the quest might earn him the claiming he so desperately wanted. The gods had sworn thirty years ago to always claim their demigod children, but over time they had forgotten to.

That was one other selected. But who else to take?

Jule, the child of Ares who had lost her half-brother would probably want revenge, and is most likely a fierce fighter, like all children of Ares. I hated to admit it, but if you wanted a good brute force fighter, children of Ares were the best. Did I really want a child of Ares with me though? That didn't really matter, it was a quest, not a social meeting.

Hmm... Who else? Amber? All our combat power was mostly melee focused, and we had no healer, so... Actually, that's not why I wanted her on the quest, but if I told myself enough maybe I could fool myself. Yeah, right. Anyway... One more person to choose. Maybe Henri, the son of Hades. His shadow travel, skeleton summoning and ability to intimidate could definitey come in handy. Yeah, Henri was a good choice.

My companions chosen, I set off to find them. Sam was in the arena, training with the rest of the Hermes cabin. I say training, but it was more of a wild free for all. His opponent was a boy almost twice his height - not exactly saying much, but still. I think he was called Davis. Sam was attacking violently, lashing a kick into maybe-Davis' knee, slamming his fist into the side of Davis' head, and sending an elbow straight to Davis' chest. The taller boy staggered back and Sam whacked the side of his sword into Davis' head, knocking him out. I walked up to him and he spun and kicked me off my feet and into the dirt. All breath left my body and I raised my arms to cover myself from a downwards kick. I rolled to the side and staggered to my feet, then caught Sam's fist as he punched towards me.

"Calm down." I said, "I'm not here to fight."

Sam stopped trying to beat the shit out of me, and stepped back.

"Sorry dude." he said.

"That's ok. You want to come on a quest?" I asked.

"Yeah!" Sam said, "Let's go!"

"You might want to pack first. Besides, I need to get the other three." I replied, amused at my friend's eagerness.

Henri was easy to find. He was walking right past me when I left the arena.

"Henri!" I called.

He vanished and stepped out of the shadows next to me.

"Yeah?" he asked.

"Want to come on a quest?" I said.

He waited a moment, then replied; "Why not?"

I opened my mouth to speak but he shadow travelled away.

Jule found me and asked to come on the quest; "Give me a chance to get revenge on them fuckers."

I agreed and she jogged off to pack, leaving only Amber to find. I was planning on going to check the archery range, where the Apollo Cabin spent most of their time. I think they just did it to show off, because their archery was so good they barely needed practice. But then it was lunchtime and I saw her lagging behind everyone else on the way to the dining pavillion. I walked up to her.

"Hey." she said, giving me a smile.

I opened and closed my mouth a few times, unable to from words, then asked; "Want to come a a quest?"

"Hmm... Sure." she said, "I'll get ready after lunch though, if that's ok with you."

"Yeah, sure." I replied.

Subconsciously, I knew I was like putty in her hands, so I would have said yes even if it wasn't ok with me.

I sat down to have lunch, then remembered that the prophecy had said six, not five. I facepalmed; I am such an idiot.

"What did you do now?" grumbled Grace.

I blushed with embarresment as I explained my mistake.

"You fool." Grace said at the end.

"Can I come on the quest?" Mark asked.

"Please do." I answered.

Mark, as I have already pointed out, was a great friend of mine so I was glad to have him come along. I sacrificed a big slice of my steak to Athena and Tyche, the godess of luck. On a quest, I figured I'd need all the luck I could get. I tore through the rest of my food ravenously. Steak, peas, chips and olives. To be honest I was getting a little tired of having Olives with every meal ever. I know it was mom's sacred food and everything, but that didn't mean I wanted it with every meal.

After me and Mark were finished we went to pack everything we'd need for the quest. We didn't know where we'd end up or how long the quest would take, so we packed a lot of stuff. I filled a rucksack with everything and anything I might need. Ambrosia, nectar, golden drachmas, 5 spare shirts, 2 hoodies, 2 pairs of jeans, underwear, 150 dollars, my tablet, two water bottles, sniper tape (duct tape on steroids, pretty much), a full celestial bronze knife belt, a spare celestial bronze sword, the full list was pretty damn long. I got a sword and throwing knife bandolier and headed out, Mark following me. He had chosen a detachable bow that let him take the two halves apart to carry it easier.

We reached the top of the border hill quickly. The other four arrived around the same time. Sam had a rucksack and was wearing a celestial bronze chestplate under his shirt, almost as a vest. A sword hung at his side. Jule had a sword at her hip and most likely a folded up spear in her bag. Amber had a bow just like Mark's and a short dagger which was a simmilar shade to her auburn hair. Henri was wearing black rather than the Camp Half-Blood shirt and jeans everyone else had. His sword was as dark as midnight, matching his attire and hair, and creating a stark contrast with his white skin.

"Everyone ready?" I asked.

Everyone said a variation of "yes".

"Then let's do this."

**A/N: Thanks for reading, please review.**


	7. Bus Warrior

**A/N: I made this chapter quite long. I'm trying to shift the focus to the characters being weaker and learning to be deadly warriors. Did I pull it off well? Please leave a review once you've finished the chapter.**

Argus, the camp's many-eyed guard and driver gave us a van ride into Manhattan, and from there we were left to find our own way to wherever we needed to go. I let a tiny amount of the gold dust go, and it floated off in the general direction of Florida.

"So what are we doing for transport?" Mark asked.

"Get a taxi?" suggested Amber.

"That won't cost much." I said sarcastically.

"Steal a car." Jule cut it, being as open to theft as any child of Hermes.

"That's illegal. We'll get the police coming after us." Mark replied logically.

"Meh." Henri commented.

"Hire bikes." Sam said.

"We probably need to go to Flordia, you want to cycle all that way?" I replied.

"Shadow travel." Mark said.

"No." Henri said, "Too many of us. Too far."

"Well isn't this quest starting brilliantly." I snapped at no one in paticular.

"You're in charge, you should have thought this through." Jule growled.

"Why don't you just f-" I started, but Mark stepped between us.

"Everybody calm down." he said, "No point in getting at each other's throats already."

"Yeah, that's for later in the quest." I said.

"Steal a car sneakily?" Jule suggested.

"Theft is wrong." Amber said.

"Shut up sunshine girl." Jule snapped angrily.

"But who could drive, even if we did get a car?" Mark asked, breaking up the fight a second before I was going to step in.

"I bet I could drive." Sam said.

"Bet I could reach the pedals!" I laughed.

"Oi!" Sam said.

"Just kidding, mate." I said.

"Stop flirting." Jule replied.

"Shut it." I growled at the Brunette.

"How about a bus?" asked Amber.

"Boring." yawned Henri.

"Well, if you want a fun route, Danger Mouse, feel free to suggest one." I said sarcastically.

This conversation was getting annoying.

"Danger mouse?" snorted Henri.

"I found a bus map." Mark called from twenty meters away.

We walked over and found the bus that would take us to New Haven, Connecticut, the logical first step in our journey. Trying to get as close as we could to Florida could mess us up if it turned out to be closer to us than I guessed, so going state by state was speedy enough but also allowed regular checks of the golden dust.

Fifteen minutes later we were sitting on the bus, spread across the five back seats and the double sets of facing seats right in front of them. I tucked my bag into the gap between the back row and the one in front and sat down in the left corner, Sam just in front of me. Henri sat in the other corner on his own with Jule in front and to the left of him. Mark reclined across two of the back seats and Amber was slightly to the right of me in the back row. Me and Sam talked for a while about our favourite video game, Forgotten, a shooter featuring a once famous hero coming back twisted and evil to find he had been forgotten, and setting out for revenge. We only stopped our conversation as we passed through Brooklyn. We got a hostile feeling, like all demigods did, but there was never any problems, so I just put it down to a silly superstition. After a while, I remembered that I had packed my tablet, and that I had Forgotten: Compact on it, a tablet version of the actual game.

"I've got Forgotten: Compact on my tablet, want a go?" I asked.

"Sweet! Thanks Tom." Sam replied excitedly.

"No problem." I said.

After a few minutes of silence, I decided to talk to Amber.

"Hey." I said.

"Hi." she replied.

"Sooooo... This your first quest?" I asked.

"Yep. You?" she said.

"It is indeed." I answered.

"Why did you choose me?" Amber asked.

I thought for a second.

"We needed a healer, and I knwo you more than anyone else from Apollo." I answered.

'And want to get to know you a lot better.' I thought without wanting to.

That was the second that the bus was hit hard on the left side and throw off the road. It crashed into a ditch by the side of the road, hurling everyone into the side of it.

"What the fuck was that?" I gasped as I pulled myelf to my feet and got my breath back.

My question was answered by the hand of a monster like the one from earlier, only flaming, smashing through the window and reaching for me. I quickly drew a dagger and stabbed it into the monster's hand, wincing as the flames licked at my fingers. It roared and tried to hit me, but Henri tackled me and shadow travelled me out of the bus and into the monster's shadow. It span as Henri vanished back into the now flaming bus, and it grabbed a tree from the other side of the road to the field. It swung it's improvised flaming club at me, and I hit the dirt. Well, concrete, but you know what I mean. Jule ran at the thing, stabbing a spear into it and leaping onto it, balancing through sheer luck. Her sword sliced though its jaw and it hurled her off. I slid in, slicing it's thigh with my sword. It hit me hard in the chest.

I would have screamed in pain as I hit the bus but all air was knocked straight out of me and I slid to the ground, tears in my eyes. The monster rushed me but an arrow hit it and it spun, roaring, to face Amber. I slowly clambered to my feet as Amber rushed out of the monster's way. Jule rushed in from the side and stabbed the monster in the side with her spear. I looked around for my sword and saw it five meters away. I jogged over to it and grabbed it as Henri shadow travelled around the monster, hacking and slashing wildy. Eventually the monster landed a lucky hit and Henri bounced away over the ground. The monster turned towards a mortal.

"GET THE MORTALS TO SAFETY!" I screamed.

I wondered what the mortals were seeing. An angry elephant? It charged the Mortal and Jule slid into it's way as Amber and a newly conscious Mark ushered the monsters away. The monster batted Jule off into an oak tree, which shook slightly, and a few leaves fell off. Henri leapt up to he mortal and they both vanished. I threw a knife at the monster, missing competely. I tried again and hit it in the arm. It roared and blew fire at me. I screamed in pain until someone grabbed me and rolled me over the ground until the flames went out. I opened my eyes and found myself looking into Amber's, which were blue like a tropical lago- I stopped myself and thanked her as she helped me to my feet.

I rushed the monster blindly, and leapt forward, swinging with no plan or pattern, arrows and bullets whizzing past me, and found myself tumbling through golden dust. I hit the ground and got to my feet. Me, Henri and Jule were kneeling, panting by the golden dust pile, Amber was tucking a strand of her behind her ear as she lowered her bow, and Mark was reloading his rifle, which he had kept in his bag. His bow had been broken in the fight.

"There's someone missing." I said.

"Meh." Henri gasped before passing out, worn out by using his powers.

"Sam!" I shouted.

There was a moan from the bus, and I climbed in through a giant flaming hole. Sam was lying unconscious, and the flames were near the engine. Mark ran over and together we carried Sam from the bus, as the girls grabbed everyone's bags and my tablet at a quick order from me.

"Well, shit." I said as our ride to New Haven exploded.

**A/N: Well, how did I do? Please review.**


	8. New Haven

We were given a ride to New Haven by a kind man in a delivery truck who saw us and a few unconscious mortals huddled by the apparently crashed bus. We were worried it was a monster in disguise, but it ended up fine as we were dropped off at a bus station in New Haven. Sam was conscious by this point, so we headed off to get lunch and a rest.

Within a few minutes, we found a McDonalds and went in. There was no queue, so we got our orders over with quickly and sat around the longest table in the building as we ate. I dipped a pair of fries in ketchup and took a bite.

"Did you know McDonalds is in over 120 countries?" I asked after swallowing.

"And?" Henri said.

"Just making conversation." I replied.

"Boring conversation." Henri said.

"Just because you don't care doesn't mean other don't." Mark said.

Henri shrugged and went back to his burger.

We finished our meals in silence, and I went to the toilet. Just as I entered the corridor, a monster slithered out of the women's toilets. It had two thick snake tails instead of legs and reptilian eyes. The rest of it was an otherwise average woman. It wore a celestial bronze chestplate that exaggerated it's - or more accurately, her - breasts, and held a speaer in it's right hand.

"Sssurprissse, half-blood." she hissed, lunging.

I ducked and the spear just barely scraped the top of my head. It pulled the spear back for another strike, and I slid forwards between it's snake tail legs. I used the time it took for the monster - a Dracanae, I realised - to turn around to clamber to my feet and dodge through the plain white door into the men's toilets. I drew my sword and hid inside one of the cubicles. The person before me hadn't flush, so I absolutely stuck and the floor was damp.

"Where have you gone, tricksssssy hero?" the Dracanae hissed, entering the toilets.

I slammed the cubicle door into it and swung, burying my sword into it's breastplate, but not quite cutting through. I span and hit my full on in the face with it's left hand and I fell back, landing sitting on the toilet. It raised it's spear to finish me but I caught it just in time and struggled to hold it. Suddenly, a lightbulb switched on in my mind, and i hurled myself to the side and let go. The Dracanae's spear buried itself in the toilet, and I tacked it out of the cubcicle.

"Curssse you!" it hissed as it's spear was left behind.

I drew a throwing dagger and stabbed it inbetween it's breasts, and the blade sunk into it's heart. It exploded like a sandcastle in front of a fan and I fell to the disturbingly sticky floor.

"Eugh." I groaned as I got to my feet and took a piss in a urinal.

I headed back out into the actual restaurant.

"You took your time." Jule said.

"I got attacked." I said.

"You got mugged in a toilet?" Sam laughed.

"By a Dracanae." I explained.

"What are monsters doing in McDonalds?" Mark wondered.

"Getting burgers, probably." I replied.

"Or waiting for Half-Bloods." Mark said.

"Isn't there better places than McDonalds for that?" Sam asked, "Like outside one of the camps?"

Sam was talking about the three camps. Camp Half-Blood was the main camp, but there were two smaller ones elsewhere in the country for people not living near New York.

"They'd get killed if they got too close." Jule said, "My half-siblings would tear them apart."

"Not if my half-siblings shoot them first." Amber spoke up as we left the restaurant.

"You Apollo kids and your bows... Too scared for real weapons?" Jule laughed.

"Bows are for people with skill and finesee, not like your brutish swords." Amber said.

"Oi, I use a sword!" Sam said.

Henri and Mark both agreeded with him, but I didn't. Upsetting Amber wouldn't help me in my secret sub-quest.

"Sorry." Amber said, looking down at the ground.

"Yeah, sunshine girl." Jule said smugly.

"I'm sure she didn't mean to offend anyone." I defend her, "Except Jule."

"And Jule doesn't matter." Sam laughed.

"Shut up. I bet it could take you in a fight." Jule grumbled.

"Yeah right weakling." Sam said, drawing his sword.

"Um... Is this really the best place?" I asked.

"Not really." Sam murmurred, putting his sword away.

"NOW EVERYBODY CALM DOWN." Mark said.

"We need a way to get to the next stop." Amber said.

"Bus again?" Mark said.

"Because that worked sooo well last time." I said sarcastically.

"That sarcasm again?" Amber asked.

"Yep." I replied.

"I agree with Tom. Not a bus again." Sam said.

I guess getting knocked out on one put him off of buses.

"What other options is there?" Mark asked.

"Steal a van?" Jule said.

"The law." Mark replied.

"Meh." Henri said.

In the end, we ended up sitting in a bus, Sam grumbling about not trusting buses.

**A/N: Sorry about the length but I was busy this weekend. And please review. This story has had 27 visitors and no reviews?**


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